Daiva Čepauskaitė is a well-known poet and playwright. Her poetic voice is unique: the classic form of poetry infused with (self-)irony, sting, and criticism of modern life perfectly complements her lyricism and gentler humour. Her texts crawl into the brain, where they are promptly memorized, and they do not become banal even when frequently repeated. In her dramaturgy she remains a bit of a poet, too, as her plays abound in metaphors and transformations. For a long time Daiva has been writing plays for children, and many of them have been produced in various Lithuanian theatres. Recently, a book of her plays for adults has appeared. Her colleague, the writer Gintaras Grajauskas says, “To me, the most beautiful thing is how Daiva observes and sees people—and she still finds people interesting. The most interesting.”The excerpt from the play Duobė (The Pit) featured here is painful and stinging, and addresses the theme which has just begun being discussed openly in Lithuania: she writes about the Holocaust and about Lithuanians killing Jews, about an entire layer of our society that was massacred. This play brought Daiva Čepkauskaitė the Person of Tolerance award in 2011.

Scene 5

KOSTAS (ANDRIUS). YOUNG MAN I and II barge in, white armbands on their sleeves.

YOUNG MAN II Where are you, damn it! How long can we wait?

KOSTAS Why are you shouting?

YOUNG MAN I Did we interrupt you? Who's she? When will you let us see her?

YOUNG MAN II Let's get moving, quick.

KOSTAS Where to?

YOUNG MAN II Lots of work to do. Volunteers needed.

KOSTAS What work?

YOUNG MAN II Serious work. Not just feeling up some girl.

YOUNG MAN I Read this.

KOSTAS What is it?

YOUNG MAN I Read, read.

KOSTAS (reads the leaflet) "A new Lithuanian state will be restored by the power, labor, heart and wisdom of the Lithuanian people. Jews are excluded from it completely and for all time. In the newly restored Lithuanian state, no Jew shall have either civil rights or any possibility of making a living. This shall serve to redress mistakes of the past and Jewish knavery…"[2] What's this?

YOUNG MAN II Another illiterate! Some friends I've got… Let's go.

KOSTAS Where?

YOUNG MAN II To fight for Lithuania.

YOUNG MAN I To kick some Communist ass.

YOUNG MAN II Jewish too.

KOSTAS Why Jewish?

YOUNG MAN I For the same shit. Are we going?

YOUNG MAN II Hold on, let's have a smoke. Do you have a cigarette?

KOSTAS hands them cigarettes. YOUNG MEN light up.

YOUNG MAN I That’s good… Where’d you get them?

KOSTAS I bought them.

YOUNG MAN II Bought them from a Jew or a man?

KOSTAS A man.

YOUNG MAN I Jews are done for.

KOSTAS Why's that?

YOUNG MAN II For those who didn't get it the first time. (Reads the leaflet) "Lithuanians, if you are still alive…" Are you alive?

KOSTAS Alive…

YOUNG MAN II Not deaf?

KOSTAS No…

YOUNG MAN II Good, so listen. "We vow to take hundredfold revenge on the Jews and communists for the innocent blood of our citizens they have spilt. And right here it says: P dot S dot. "This announcement, either in writing or by word of mouth, must reach the farthest corners of Lithuania." (to YOUNG MAN I) Listen, explain it to this corner here, my nerves are going bad…

YOUNG MAN I Are you going or not?

KOSTAS Where?

YOUNG MAN I No, you're really out of it. Under what rock have you been hiding? Has this girl kneaded your brain into putty, or what? Come on and get with the program.

KOSTAS What's all this shit you're spouting? Maybe you can explain it to me.

YOUNG MAN I Listen, jackass. A national Home Guard battalion is being formed by the Kaunas Military Command. You'll join our company. On Gediminas street. Bring your ID.

YOUNG MAN II Maybe you’re not going?

KOSTAS Of course, I am.

YOUNG MAN II Why of course?

KOSTAS Because I'm a Lithuanian. And I hate communists.

YOUNG MAN I What about Jews?

KOSTAS And Jews.

YOUNG MAN II All right, there’s no time. You'll join. We'll be in touch.

YOUNG MAN I They'll give us guns!

YOUNG MEN exit. Only KOSTAS (ANDRIUS) remains.

***

Enter MILDA.

ANDRIUS I hate Jews. And I hate you.

MILDA Same to you.

ANDRIUS Why are you telling me all this?

MILDA So you would know.

ANDRIUS I don't want to know anything. I just wanted to love you. What have you done? Why?

ANDRIUS All this was so long ago. It's dead and gone. The wounds have all healed. What difference does it make now?

MILDA None at all. Everything is now.

ANDRIUS Nobody is shooting Jews now. Why are you crying about it?

MILDA I'm not crying about it. I'm just telling you.

ANDRIUS Can't we just be together, without any stories? I love you, damn it!

MILDA Will you still love me when you know?

ANDRIUS What should I know? That you’re Jewish? I know that already.

MILDA No, you don't.

ANDRIUS Go to hell.

MILDA You don't know what it means to be Jewish.

ANDRIUS But you do.

MILDA Aren't you disgusted?

ANDRIUS With what?

MILDA Kissing a Jew.

ANDRIUS It’s disgusting. And how! Is that what you want to hear? Do you want me to hate you, pity you, sympathize? What do you want? Should I apologize? For all those Jew-shooters, for the entire Holocaust? For what your granny had to experience? I'm sorry! Can we continue with our lives now?

MILDA My granny had to experience love. No one says sorry for that.

ANDRIUS I don't understand you.

MILDA Get out.

ANDRIUS No, those Jews… It's impossible. They're the unhappiest, they've suffered the most, their pains are the greatest, their wounds are the deepest, their tears the saltiest. As if other nations weren't murdered, exiled, shot, exterminated. They're eternal martyrs, and everyone's guilty before them. Everybody and for ever! Do you think I don’t have things to tell you? You should know this then – my grandfather was an army officer in independent Lithuania. When the Soviets came, he tried to escape to Germany. He was caught, accused of spying, and thrown into the Kaunas hard labour prison. There, they pulled off his fingernails, burned the soles of his feet, broke his bones. And you know who did all this? A Jew working for the NKVD. My grandfather's whole family was deported to Siberia where they froze to their bunks in the barrack, together with their little children. The order for their deportation was signed by a Jewish NKVD officer. When the war began, my grandfather got out of prison and served in the national Home Guard battalion. He fought for a free Lithuania! Against the communist terror! Do you think there was much love for Jews in his heart?

Scene 6

The same YOUNG MEN and KOSTAS (Andrius), all of them wearing the white armbands.

YOUNG MAN I Now to the pharmacy.

KOSTAS What pharmacy?

YOUNG MAN II What, what – the Jewish one, of course. Teitz's.

YOUNG MAN I What's the address?

YOUNG MAN II It's right there, ‘round the corner, you know it.

KOSTAS Why there?

YOUNG MAN I To arrest the Jew.

KOSTAS Teitz? The pharmacist?

YOUNG MAN I No, Abraham.

KOSTAS But Teitz isn’t a communist.

YOUNG MAN I They're all the same. Jews, communists, bolsheviks, no difference. All leaches.

KOSTAS And then where to?

YOUNG MAN II Then to the Kaplans, to the print-shop.

KOSTAS Maybe we should split up? I'll go to Teitz, you to the print-shop. It’ll be quicker.

YOUNG MAN II You figure?

KOSTAS Of course.

YOUNG MAN I Will you manage on your own?

KOSTAS Oh, come on…

YOUNG MAN II You sure?

YOUNG MAN I Bring him to the headquarters. Then follow the instructions.

KOSTAS Got it.

YOUNG MAN I You can smack him.

KOSTAS Smack him?

YOUNG MAN II Why not hit a Jew?

YOUNG MAN I And remember: "One step to the left – bang! One step to the right – bang! Just one word – I shoot! Now scram!"

KOSTAS I get it, I get it.

YOUNG MAN II At the headquarters. See you there.

The white-armbands exit. KOSTAS (Andrius) goes to the pharmacy, to BEREL TEITZ.

KOSTAS Where’s Golda?

BEREL What do you want with her?

KOSTAS Mr. Teitz, where's Golda?

BEREL I’m not telling you.

KOSTAS I'm here to arrest you, Mr. Teitz…

BEREL So it’s like that… And I thought you're going on a date. So what are you waiting for? Take me.

KOSTAS Tell me where Golda is, and I'll say I didn't find you.

BEREL What are you offering me here? A deal? I should betray my daughter? Are you in your right mind, kid? Don’t bother waiting around.

KOSTAS Run wherever you can. The quicker, the better. It’s going to be bad.

BEREL For whom is it good now?

KOSTAS I'm not joking, God is my witness…

BEREL God also has some problems, kid. A Jew comes to his rabbi and says: "Rabbi, help me, I don't know what to do. My son wants to convert to Christianity… Rabbi, you're closer to the Almighty – ask him, what should I do?" The Rabbi says: "I can't promise you anything, but I’ll try, come back tomorrow… “ The next day, the Jew returns to the rabbi, who only sighs: "God said: ‘Oy vey!’ He told me He has similar problems: his son has also become a Christian."

KOSTAS Do you have a place to hide?

BEREL Sit down, I'll make some tea. My wife will be back soon.

KOSTAS And Golda?

BEREL Forget her.

KOSTAS I want to help her. And you too. It would be much better if you spent a few nights away from home.

BEREL Nonsense. I haven't done anything, I didn't join any party. Why should I wander about?

KOSTAS You raised the red flag by your pharmacy when the Soviets came… Greeted the Russian tanks with flowers… People remember.

BEREL I'd rather give my pharmacy to Stalin than my bones to Hitler.

KOSTAS You’re still making jokes… I came here to arrest you, and you find this funny?

BEREL It's not funny. I’m not a communist, as you know yourself. I was born here, I grew up here. I did honest work here. My daughters were born here. Where should I move and why? For what?

KOSTAS You’re a Jew.

BEREL Quite possibly. So what?

KOSTAS Wherever a stone falls, it finds a Jew. Those were your words.

BEREL All right, you hit the nail on the head. Now take me. Where do you have to deliver me? Or do you have to confiscate my possessions too? Gold, precious stones, money, jewellery – will that do? Take everything. I've earned it with my own sweat, saved it up for my daughters' dowry. Three beautiful brides at home. No matter, the brides can wait. Take it, take it, I don't begrudge a good man having it. And you're a good man, after all, I know, you grew under my nose, one could even say you're close, one of us.

KOSTAS Mr. Teitz, it is the law – all people of Jewish descent…

BEREL Yes, yes, I understand, now you're enforcing laws passed by the government. And most likely you have orders to take care of Golda too? And here I thought it was love…

KOSTAS Believe me, I don't wish you any harm. I’m trying to help you.

BEREL Wait, wait, so what’s it you want? To help me or to arrest me?

KOSTAS I…

BEREL Make up your mind, young man. I'm completely in your power! With all my little bottles. The rest of the biography of Berel Teitz depends solely on you. Even the inscription on my gravestone is up to you. Born in 1891 (well, of course, you had no part in that), but – died in 1941… or not? You decide… See, how powerful you are.

KOSTAS I'll say I didn't find you at home.

BEREL Too bad you didn’t find me, but come another time. Come by tomorrow. Or the day after. Come by as often as you like.

KOSTAS You're still joking… Do you know, Mr. Teitz that Jews will soon stop laughing… for ever.

BEREL Forgive me, officer.

KOSTAS Please... Run… And tell Golda …

BEREL I'll tell her nothing.

KOSTAS I'm leaving. But others will come.

Scene 7

MILDA and ANDRIUS

MILDA Then others came. They took away my father. Nobody ever saw him again. Golda's mother Fruma had a nice ring. She would never take it off. A white-armband ordered her to hand it over. She couldn’t get it off, no matter how she tried. So he just chopped off her finger along with the ring. Several weeks later, Golda went to search for her father.

ANDRIUS Where did she go?

MILDA Now you're an SS officer.

ANDRIUS No.

MILDA It's just a game. Please. You're sitting in your office. I come in dressed in my best outfit, with hat and gloves. We speak in German.

MILDA I would like to know why and for what my father Berel Teitz was arrested in our home three weeks ago. He was taken away by young Lithuanian officers, probably on orders from their superiors. As of yet, I haven't heard from him. I would like to find out where he is and whether it’s possible to see him. Here are his documents and mine. Before the Soviet rule, my father owned a pharmacy. After it was nationalised, he worked there as a regular pharmacist. He did not belong to any party.

ANDRIUS What do I say?

MILDA Nothing. Just look at me.

ANDRIUS I'm looking.

MILDA If this isn’t something you can help me with, please, show me a person who can answer my questions. I'm sorry for disturbing you.

ANDRIUS I'm looking.

MILDA Now go and bring a bucket of water.

ANDRIUS brings a bucket of water.

MILDA Order me to wash the floor.

ANDRIUS Wash the floor.

MILDA looks at him in silence.

MILDA Wash my office.

MILDA looks at him in silence.

ANDRIUS Wash!

MILDA I've never washed a floor, sir. We have hardwood floors at home, which I've never waxed.

ANDRIUS Wash.

MILDA Maybe you didn't quite understand me, sir…

ANDRIUS Warum wäschst du denn nicht? Why aren't you washing?

MILDA I haven't got a rag, sir.

ANDRIUS Use your panties, Freulein.

MILDA puts down her purse, puts her hat on a chair, takes off her gloves, and slips off her panties. She balls them up and begins to scrub the floor.

ANDRIUS I don't know, my dear Freulein, where you've been all this time, but it seems to me like you’ve fallen from the moon. I can't believe it… (He kicks the bucket) Decree Nr. 11 (reads): "1. All individuals of Jewish ethnicity, from July 12th of this year, regardless of their gender or age, shall wear on the left side of their chest the following sign: a yellow Star of David with a diameter of 8 to 10 cm. If noticed without this sign, individuals of Jewish ethnicity shall be subject to arrest. 2. Individuals of Jewish ethnicity are forbidden from using sidewalks. Jews shall walk only on the right side of the street in single file. 3. Individuals of Jewish ethnicity are forbidden to take walks in all gardens, parks and squares... 4. Individuals of Jewish ethnicity are forbidden... 5. Individuals of Jewish ethnicity are forbidden… And so on… And also: All individuals of Jewish ethnicity residing within the Kaunas city limits, from July 15th to August 15th of this year, regardless of gender or age, must relocate to Vilijampole, a suburb of Kaunas. They are only allowed to bring with them their tools of trade and belongings essential for life under new conditions."[3] I could arrest you right away for failing to obey the law. But, I must admit, you've made quite an impression on me. So stand up. As you well know, I still have to punish you…

He smacks MILDA. MILDA remains silent.

ANDRIUS I must admit, you've impressed me. (He grabs MILDA by the hair and pushes his face close to hers, looks right into her eyes, then lets her go) I would kiss you but it’s disgusting to kiss a Jew…

ANDRIUS What? Did it play out differently? Maybe he kissed her anyway? Or maybe he didn’t just kiss her? What are you staring at? Did I botch my role? Were you expecting more?

MILDA Andrius…

ANDRIUS Is that why you slipped your panties off? Have I failed to meet your expectations?

MILDA Cut it out…

ANDRIUS Maybe we should try again?

MILDA Enough.

ANDRIUS It was you who wanted it.

MILDA What's wrong with you?

ANDRIUS starts ripping off MILDA's clothes.

ANDRIUS It's just a game, like you said. Just a game!

MILDA Stop it! Let me go.

ANDRIUS You like it?! Maybe like this? Or like that?

MILDA Stop!!!

ANDRIUS And those white-armbands who came to take you away, maybe that's what they also wanted? Did you actually resist them? Just like you're doing now? Or even more?

MILDA It hurts…

ANDRIUS Down, bitch! (He throws MILDA to the floor) Wash the floor! Wash it with your body! With your breasts! Now with you back! Crawl! And now my shoes! Shine my shoes! With your tongue! More! You missed a spot, here too. That's the ticket. Gott mit uns. God is with us.

MILDA Darf ich schon gehen? Can I go now?

ANDRIUS All right. All right. I'll be an SS officer, policeman, whatever you want, just so you look at me the way you’re doing right now. Like that… Look at me. Look. Just look. With smell of wet floors, sweat, rags, tears, saliva, slop… Fear.

He lets go of MILDA.

***

GOLDA (MILDA) and KOSTAS (ANDRIUS)

GOLDA …then they took us all outside. Me, my mother, sisters, aunts… everyone. Blows of wooden rifle butts. I rememder the pits. Deep and wet. Gunshots. I didn't see it, but I remember. I didn't want to stand there with my back to them. I wanted to see the barrel. The red spark. The shining bullet. There were many of us. More than the barrels. I didn't know which one was mine. I didn't know into which one to look. I fell with all the others. It didn't hurt. Bodies all around. Then silence. I opened my eyes. Felt something in my mouth. Hair. Not mine… A braid. A girl's braid in my mouth. A girl lay on top of me. And then I realized, I’m still alive. Probably the only one in the entire pit. No, in the whole world. I lay there for some time and listened. I couldn’t hear anything. Silence. I climbed out. I ran. It was getting dark. I ran. To you.

KOSTAS Your hair was caked with blood. You smelled of the earth. I washed you. And I hid you. I tore up the floorboards and dug a ditch under the house. There, we were finally together.

GOLDA You used to come to me. We’d be silent, make love… I ate from your hands like a dog. I licked your hands and cried. Sometimes I prayed and begged God that this would go on for ever. Let there be war, let them shoot and bomb, let all the cities of the world be destroyed, all the people killed… Only to have you by my side. My savior, my executioner. My love.

GOLDA You're using me. My helplessness. You can turn me in, shoot me, throw me out on the street. I'm your prisoner. You can do whatever you want with me.

KOSTAS It's you who can do whatever you want with me. I'm your prisoner. A bat in your hair.

GOLDA My hair smells of you.

KOSTAS Golda…

KOSTAS (ANDRIUS) embraces her tightly. GOLDA (MILDA) screams.

KOSTAS What?

GOLDA A needle.

KOSTAS What?

GOLDA Here, a needle. (She points to her heart) I wanted to kill myself. I have no strength left. I found a needle. Stuck it in right there. But it didn't reach my heart, it was too short. It's there. It hurts… Am I going to die? Kostas, I don't want to die…

KOSTAS I'll pull it out. You won't die.

GOLDA I’ll just forget.

KOSTAS And so for two years. In the ditch with you. You were my bandage, impossible to rip off.

GOLDA You were my blood, impossible to wash off.

KOSTAS You were my saliva, impossible to swallow.

GOLDA You were my life, impossible to live without.

KOSTAS You were my death, which I feared and desired.

GOLDA Soil under my fingernails.

KOSTAS Sweat in my pores.

GOLDA Air in my lungs.

KOSTAS The pulse in my temples.

GOLDA A fish in my water.

KOSTAS Gravel in my teeth.

GOLDA A beast in my snare.

KOSTAS A bullet in my chest.

GOLDA A snowstorm in my belly.

KOSTAS A bell in my head.

GOLDA Rust on my palms.

KOSTAS Powder in my guns.

GOLDA Ice under my tongue.

KOSTAS You're trembling. Are you cold?

GOLDA Is it night now?

KOSTAS Night, and war.

GOLDA Are there any people left?

KOSTAS Where?

GOLDA There, up above… Is anyone still alive?

KOSTAS No. I've killed them all. So it would be just us. So no one could disturb us.

GOLDA Have you shot them all?

KOSTAS Yes, all.

GOLDA And my mother?

KOSTAS Your mother too.

GOLDA She was missing a finger on one hand. She loved hats and could speak five languages. And my aunts? My sisters?

KOSTAS And your aunts. And your sisters.

GOLDA The eldest one, Frida, she was in love with this young man from the hardware store. She made me carry notes to him… For some reason, I wished he would dump her. To get her pregnant and leave her. She seemed so strong, like a padlock from that hardware store. Oh, I wanted to feel sorry for her, comfort her. The middle sister, Riva, was very good at chess. She beat our father once. He was terribly angry. As if it wasn't enough that God didn't give him a son, but gave him a daughter with brains to boot… Did you shoot her too?

KOSTAS Her too. And all her chess pieces.

GOLDA And Pooky?

KOSTAS Pooky?

GOLDA My rabbit.

KOSTAS No, I didn't shoot Pooky… He starved to death.

GOLDA And what about God? Did you shoot him, or did he starve to death?

KOSTAS God was on vacation.

GOLDA Will he return?

KOSTAS He should.

GOLDA Were there many like you?

KOSTAS What do you mean, like me?

GOLDA Lithuanians who were shooting Jews.

KOSTAS Not many.

GOLDA But they shot a lot of people…

KOSTAS More than were saved.

GOLDA It was ordinary to kill people. For that, you didn't even need cruelty. Indifference was enough.

KOSTAS The instinct of self-preservation was enough, just the thought that, thank God, it's not my turn yet.

SARA My little goat keeps walking on,I follow close behind…Through ancient woods and fields we roamAll day, all night,All day, all night. My little white goat, in the afternoon, Friday, Suddenly stops. And I see before me a beautiful land In the pale blue light, In the pale blue light.[4]

RACHELE Let her sleep, let her sleep… Did you make a warm bed?

SARA I did…

RACHELE Tuck her in some more here… Shall I spread a blanket?

SARA All right now, quit your fussing, let's go…

RACHELE Let's go, let's go, let her sleep.

THE WOMEN exit on their tiptoes, taking the bucket with them. Enter BEREL, quietly.

BEREL A quarter to five.

ANDRIUS What?

BEREL Ssh… I said, a quarter to five. You asked me, back then in the pharmacy, what time it was.

ANDRIUS Ah…

BEREL You understand, had I told you right away, we would've started talking… You would’ve turned out to be a nice guy… And I, as a decent man, would have to offer you a drink. But I have a young beautiful daughter, and maybe you would seduce her… And, most likely, she would get pregnant, and you, as a decent guy, would want to marry her. So this is what I thought: why do I need a son-in-law who doesn't even own a watch?

MILDA Three hundred thirty-seven, three hundred thirty-eight, three hundred thirty-nine…

ANDRIUS Why are you smiling?

MILDA From pain.

ANDRIUS You’ll forget.

MILDA I'm so sure now that I can't live without you – that’s why I'm smiling.

ANDRIUS And now?

MILDA Now. A gunshot. You’re falling.

ANDRIUS slowly lies down.

MILDA The gunshot came from behind the garden. Maybe they were aiming at me, I don't know. I don't know who shot or why. I lay down on your chest and stayed there. Until the war was over. It rained, the sun shone, it rained again… My body started to decay, to rot… Our body. My hair reeked of putrefying flesh, carrion. Under us, the grass didn’t grow… I turned nineteen.

ANDRIUS They took me away. Buried me. Where – I don't remember.

MILDA Someone picked me up and carried me off. Somebody gave me shelter. I don't remember. They say I became deranged. It’not true. My madness had ended. You were my madness.

MILDA hugs the bucket, rocks it, and hums a lullaby.

MILDA Sleep, daughter, sleep... A little white goat sits under your bed. While you sleep, it will travel the world, bringing you raisins and almonds. Sleep, sleep. Raisins and almonds, the color of your eyes. You’ll grow up beautiful, and your pretty form will be known far and wide. You’ll be so beautiful – like a lily among blackthorn, like an apple among the trees of the forest. Your curls like a tribe of goats descending the slopes of Gilead... Your teeth like a herd of shorn sheep climbing out of a swimming hole... Sleep, baby, sleep. Your cheeks like the two halves of a pomegranate. Your neck like the tower of David... Sleep...